25 September 2011 5:36 PM

'Reform' means in the direction of what is 'progressive'- that is in the direction of infantilisation and stupidity

There is a kind of semantic totalitarianism which effectually turns the English language into a one way street. Of course we find the principal examples of this authoritarianism on Radio Four.

That is one of the reasons why my wife and I have a competition every morning, during the Today Programme, over which of us will be the first to chuck the wireless into the street.

It’s Sabbath version, The Sunday Programme, this morning, for example, provided us with this particular cul de sac. A spokesperson – though in fact she was a woman – was in a discussion about 'reform' and she blurted out, 'This present Pope will never reform anything!'

Actually, he has already reformed a great deal. He has got rid of the Noddy version of the Mass they use in England and replaced it with something like dignified English.

He has told the long-haired motorcycling RC priests to chuck the guitars and restore plainsong. He has encouraged the moving of the altars back to the east wall – thus getting rid of that ring-a-ring’o-roses shambles where the congregation stands in a circle as if watching a bear-baiting contest.

He has reformed the teaching about Our Lord, tearing up the view of him as a liberation theologian, a sort of 1st century version of Che Guevara. He has stressed the real Virgin Birth and Resurrection of Christ after generations during which priests and Catholic theologians taught that these great events were only myths.

Pope Benedict has reformed and repaired relationships with The Church of England by establishing the Ordinariate

But, of course, in what passes for 'thought' in the minds of the great majority – and, as I say, particularly in the BBC – is the notion of 'reform' which must always mean in the direction of what is 'progressive' – that is in the direction of infantilisation and stupidity.

Reform is not a one way street. It can lead back to something better, something authentic – in fact to something true.